Dave wrote in message



Since you think that it is a mediocre receiver, I think you should get a receiver
that is not mediocre.


Ok, I threw the Pioneer on eBay and I think I'm going with a Xindak
XA-6900SE with a Xindak SACD. I've read strong reviews of Xindak sound
and quality compared with the Pioneer.

The Pioneer receiver you tossed cost about $400, with the 2 ch Xindak SE amp
that your considering at $2000, that's 4 times your original budget plus another
$1700 for the SACD. I think you should judiciously allocate your budget if you
still plan to build a mid to hifi audio system yet, aspire to use it to watch movies
20% at the time.



My concern now is that I'll have to turn this thing on hours in advance before it
reaches its sound potential. I would also like to leave it on all the time, but I
doubt that's smart since the amp and CD have some tubes running
inside. Can I leave on all the time?



I have a tube preamp that uses 4 tubes. There are times that I listen to my system
on consecutive days for several weeks, so I leave it on. I turn it off if I don't plan
to listen in 2 - 3 days. At one time, I left them on for over a year and the tubes
lasted about the same time compare to another set a year later after they've
been consistently powered off at the end of day. Both sets lasted 12 1/2 mos.